At five months old, my son was infected with a flu virus, which turned into meningitis.  He suffered many serious seizures and strokes during his month in the hospital.  Consequently, his vision has been affected.  He has worn glasses since he was a year old.  He has always been ‘clumsy’ and ‘uncoordinated’.  He has had attention and focus issues.  When it came time to learn to read, he was unable to decipher more than two-letter words and even that was very difficult.  He continued to score high on oral evaluations.  He learned his ABC’s very early and very quickly, impressing his preschool teacher as the only one who knew the sounds of the letters, but when he tried to look at words on paper (we had played oral letter games in the car) he was unable to link the letters together and often lost his place or even forgot what letter he had just seen.  He was focusing so hard on just deciphering what he was seeing, that he couldn’t keep it in his head long enough to get any meaning out of it.

He had been through many evaluations and sessions of physical therapy and speech therapy at Children’s Village, so we weren’t sure what his problem was.  His doctor said that his vision had been corrected with glasses to as near as 20/20 as he was going to get, but his symptoms continued.  A Special Ed teacher friend recommended Washington Vision Therapy to us and we are so thankful.  Dr. Winters evaluated him and his problems finally started making sense.  We had new hope.  There was a real reason he wasn’t having success AND something could be done!

At his first 8 week progress check, he had improved enough that he was gaining confidence and was willing to try again. By the second 8 week check, he’d begun to read without the frustration he had before, as long as we took things in small chunks.  We’ve now completed 8 months of therapy.  We will finish his last 8 weeks after taking a long (maybe 2 year) break in order for him to mature.  He has been able to finish his first-grade reading program.  He can focus on an assignment and doesn’t fall or trip nearly as much.  His Sunday School teacher says she can tell the difference in his ability to follow along and do the activities and seat work.  Best of all, he has confidence and doesn’t think he’s stupid anymore.  He will get a book on his own and sit down to look at it.  Even though reading isn’t easy for him, and he still struggles, he isn’t afraid to try because he’s having success.